Get Your Weird On: Personality in Copy

One of the main principles on which I founded Wild Spark Creative is the idea that words have the power to change the world. For that to be true, you can’t throw just any old words on the page and call it perspective-shifting. It has to be the right words, and when strung together, they must achieve something great. If we didn’t care about combining our words in meaningful ways, we could all be walking around reading stuff like “Apple hedge just garage mop broccoli turntable.” And well, that’s just confusing on a number of levels.

Often, my clients are facing a crisis of voice. They can’t key into writing and content that feels good to them because they are trying to emulate everyone else. It’s exhausting and 99% of the time, it’s fruitless. Instead of wasting your time with to-the-t formulas and “blueprints to success”, get serious about letting your personality shine through in your content if you want to see results.

When I write about pages for my clients, the most important key is that I’ve had enough time with them (and they’ve had enough time with my workbook) to drill down who they are, how they talk, and what their personality is. Without this gut feeling, I wouldn’t be able to write for them. It would fall flat. But because I dig deep into connecting with their voice, I am able to write from their point of view and ensure that their personality is what shines through above all else.

One of my first clients, A.Photographer, shared with me the feedback she received on her page, and these are a few of the things she’s heard recently:

“Amanda you are just too cute, your bio on your website says exactly who you are. Rare to see that around here.”

“Oh my goodness, I just read your about me page for your website. It’s awesome!! It describes you perfectly! I love it!”

“Your about page is awesome, she totally nailed it!”

These messages came from her target audience. The feedback helped her see the impact of personality in copy and sent my little writing heart soaring into the stratosphere. When your website copy shows who you really are and highlights the heartbeat of your business, it makes it easy for your target audience to engage with you in a way that feels real and right. That’s when you know your words are no longer coming across as a poorly executed game of mad libs to your people. When your content feels and sounds like you, you’re coming in loud and clear to the people who matter to you most.

So throw caution (and occasionally grammar rules) to the wind, throw in a YOLO if you’re feeling it, and be proud of the pieces of you that make you “weird.” After all, weird is the only way to make an impact on the world these days, so stop hiding behind formulas and let your freak flag fly, wild sparks!